Portugal has rebuffed a warning from the US ambassador in Lisbon that sanctions could be imposed on Portuguese firms with Chinese investment, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported yesterday, citing Portuguese media reports.
According to the report, the US ambassador also said that Portugal would have to choose between the US and China. The report said that Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Monday brushed off the US envoy’s remarks.
“It’s an obvious question of principle that in Portugal it is the representatives chosen by the Portuguese – and they alone – who decide on their destiny, respecting the Constitution and the rights it gives them, like international law,” the report by SCMP journalist Keegan Elmer quoted the Portuguese president as having told his country’s media.
According to the report, Rebelo de Sousa was responding to controversial comments by US Ambassador George Glass that Portugal “has to choose between its allies and the Chinese” in an interview published by the Lisbon-based weekly Expresso on Saturday.
In the interview, Glass said that Portuguese companies like construction firm Mota-Engil would be the target of US sanctions after it agreed to sell a 30 percent stake to China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). The envoy described Portugal as part of a “battlefield” between the US and China.
Portugal’s Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva was quoted by the SCMP report as having told Portuguese media that the government’s decisions vis-à-vis Chinese investment projects are made “in accordance with Portugal’s national interest” in conjunction with the EU consultation process on such matters.
Portugal is a founder member of the US-dominated NATO.
